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Times Square is named after the New York Times. It was originally called Longacre Square until The Times moved there in 1904.

The narrowest house in NYC is in the West Village: 75 1/2 Bedford Street is just over 9 feet wide.

Manhattan was purchased by Dutch colonists from Native Americans in 1626 for the equivalent of $1,050 (in 2014).

There are more undergrad and graduate students in NYC than Boston has people.

The first presentation of 3D films before a paying audience took place at Manhattan's Astor Theater on June 10, 1915.

The New York Public Library has over 50 million books and other items and is the second largest library system in the nation after the Library of Congress. It is also the third largest library in the world.

In nine years, Madison Square Garden's lease will run out and the celebrated venue will have to move.

New York City's 520-mile coastline is longer than those of Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco combined.

A Brooklyn shopkeeper named Morris Michtom and his wife Rose are credited with inventing the teddy bear.

At one time, Brooklyn was its own separate city. It merged with the City of New York in what some Brooklyn residents call “the Great Mistake of 1898.”

The first public brewery in America was established by Peter Minuit at the Market (Marckvelt) field in lower Manhattan.

In 1975, the City of New York sold a private island in the East River for $10.

On 9/11, when all transport out of the city was shut down, citizen boat owners managed to transport over 500k people from Manhattan Island in an amazing act of selflessness and camaraderie known as the “9/11 Boatlift.”

The first capital of the United States was New York City. In 1789 George Washington took his oath as President on the balcony at Federal Hall.

NYC buries its unclaimed bodies on an island off the coast of the Bronx called Hart Island. Since 1869, nearly a million bodies have been buried there. The island is not open to the public.

About 1 in every 38 people living in the United States resides in New York City.

New York City’s Federal Reserve Bank has the largest storage of gold in the world. The Fed's vault is 80 feet below street level and contains $90 billion in gold.

Joseph C. Gayetty of New York City invented toilet paper in 1857.

Sixty percent of cigarettes sold in NYC are illegally smuggled from other states.

Prospect Park is Brooklyn’s largest public park. The duo behind Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert B. Vaux, created the Brooklyn icon in 1867.

France gifted the Statue of Liberty to the United States in 1886 for its Centennial celebration. The statue was shipped as 350 pieces in 214 crates and took 4 months to assemble at its current home on Ellis Island.

740 Park in Manhattan is currently home to the highest concentration of billionaires in the country.

Brooklyn was once the “Coffee Capital.” By 1906, about 25 million pounds of coffee a month was roasted at the Arbuckle Brothers coffee factory on John Street.

Twizzlers candy was developed by the National Licorice Company in Brooklyn in 1845.

Up until 1957, a pneumatic mail tube system used to connect 23 post offices across 27 miles in NYC. At one point, the system moved 97,000 letters a day.

The borough of Brooklyn would be the fourth largest city in the United States, if it weren't part of NYC.

In 1920, a horse-drawn carriage filled with explosives was detonated on Wall Street killing 30 people. No one was ever caught, but the event is considered to be one of the first ever acts of domestic terrorism.

The winter of 1780 was so harsh in New York that New York harbor froze over. People could walk from Manhattan to Staten Island on the ice.

The original Penn Station was considered to be one of the most beautiful train stations in the world but was torn down because of declining rail usage.

European settlers who brought seeds to New York introduced apples to the US in the 1600s.

From 1904 to 1948 there was an 18th Street station on the 4/5/6 line. It's abandoned now, but you can still see it on local 6 trains.

On November 28, 2012, not a single murder, shooting, stabbing, or other incident of violent crime was reported in NYC for an entire day. The first time… in… basically… ever.

All through the 20th century, and up until 2007, parts of Lower Manhattan were wired up using Edison’s original 110V DC.

Chernobyl is closer to New York than Fukushima is to L.A.

Charles Feltman is said to have invented the hot dog at Coney Island in 1867. The famous Nathan’s was later opened by one of his former employees.

UPS, FedEx, and other commercial delivery companies receive up to 7,000 parking tickets a DAY, contributing up to $120 million in revenue for the City of New York.

The Empire State building has its own zip code.

The first American chess tournament was held in New York in 1843.

In 1922, there was a Straw Hat Riot. It was an unofficial rule in NYC that straw hats weren't allowed to be worn past Sept. 15, but some unruly kids started snatching people's hats a few days before that, causing an uprising that lasted a few days.

America’s first rollercoaster debuted on June 16, 1884 on Coney Island in Brooklyn. Known as the Switchback Railway, it only traveled six miles per hour.

There are "fake" buildings in the city that are used for subway maintenance and ventilation. E.g. 3-story historic townhouse at 58 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights

All square footage measurements are approximate and should be independently verified and confirmed. No guarantee, warranty or representation of any kind is made regarding the completeness or accuracy of such measurements and Ideal Properties Group LLC expressly disclaims any liability in connection with such measurements.